Waxman: The Democrats' Bearded Lady

The chairman of the House Oversight Committee, Henry Waxman, has been spending a lot of time in the spotlight lately. He's brought the owner of Blackwater USA to a hearing (apparently to discuss DOS and DOD policy, oddly enough), written nasty letters to the Department of State, and even brought the Deputy Secretary of State into his little sideshow.

So what is it that might let one know that instead of doing actual work, Waxman is trying to drum up support for the Democrats? Well, exchanges like this from the hearing with Blackwater USA owner Eric Prince:

"Why are we privatising our military to an organisation that has been aggressive and in some cases reckless in the handling of their duties?" asked New York Democrat Carolyn Maloney.

Mr Prince said Blackwater had taken firm action against the guard. He was fined and fired.

"But we, as a private organisation, can't do any more," he said. "We can't flog him. We can't incarcerate him."

The idiocy of asking the owner of a private enterprise a question about government policy is quite remarkable, unless...

Unless they only asked the question to score political capital, which is exactly what Waxman is doing in all cases. Even his hearing on Iraqi government corruption isn't news (which some republican representatives on the committee point out), and it is an ongoing issue that MNF-I and the Iraqi Government are working to correct. So what does Waxman really want to know? An exchange between himself and the Deputy Secretary of State Larry Butler make it pretty clear:

"Waxman laughed and asked, 'An appropriate setting for positive things is a congressional hearing, but for negative things, it must be behind closed doors?'

'As you know, this goes to the very heart of diplomatic relations and national security,' Butler said.

'It goes to the very heart of propaganda,' Waxman said..."

And there it is.

There's no doubt in my mind that Waxman understands why Butler can't say those things in public, and there's no doubt in Butler's mind either. Everyone there knows they can't talk about those things in public because it may damage our diplomatic relationship with the government we're trying to work with to remove that corruption. Airing problems in public would be detrimental to that relationship, and they both know it. Waxman is doing everything he can to make the administration look bad in an effort to prop up the democrats. This is politics, not policy.

He's playing whack-a-mole, but he gets to control where the moles pop up. Easiest game in the world.